Canucks’ risky push for Cup paying off

VANCOUVER — Most people call it the National Hockey League, but there’s a reason those who know sometimes refer to the NHL as the Never Hungry League.

Food is everywhere. There is breakfast in the dressing room when players arrive for practice and lunch when they leave. There are gourmet meals on the plane and boxed lunches at the draft. On game nights, the Canucks oversee more all-you-can-eat buffets than Chinatown.

So, it was logical at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas last June that the Canucks would celebrate Henrik Sedin’s Hart Trophy and Ryan Kesler’s runner-up finish for the Selke in the traditional hockey manner — $50 steaks washed down by expensive Cabernet.

The feast at swanky SW Steakhouse in Steve Wynn’s marquee hotel was memorable for a few reasons. Canucks chairman Francesco Aquilini, there with owner-brothers Roberto and Paulo, gave a heartfelt speech about the quality of Sedin and Kesler as people, not only as players. Player agent JP Barry promised that since Henrik won the scoring title in 2010, Daniel would do so in 2011. General manager Mike Gillis and assistants Lorne Henning and Laurence Gilman realized suddenly how close the Canucks were to winning a Stanley Cup.

“Henrik and Ryan had a real quiet confidence about themselves,” Gillis said Wednesday. “I just saw growth. I saw guys who were ready to be totally committed, guys who weren’t in it for any other reason but to win. We left that dinner and Lorne, Laurence and I all felt we had to do whatever we could possibly do to make this team as good as we could because these guys were showing us they were ready to take the next step.”

As Gilman recalled: “That dinner gave us pause to look at what we had in our organization. We had an MVP player and his twin brother of that same calibre. We had a player on the verge of winning a Selke and we had one of the best goaltenders in the league (in Roberto Luongo).

“Those are all components of championship teams, and we had them in their prime.”

Determined to push for a Stanley Cup immediately, Gillis travelled to the NHL entry draft in Los Angeles and sacrificed his first-round pick to help acquire defenceman Keith Ballard. The next week, he signed defenceman Dan Hamhuis and centre Manny Malhotra, who profoundly impacted the quality of the team and its dressing-room culture.

Gillis took a flyer on free agent Raffi Torres late in the summer, and on reclamation projects Max Lapierre and Chris Higgins at the trading deadline.

He also endorsed a very secure coaching staff’s decision to grant a large degree of autonomy and responsibility to the players, whose standards for performance and accountability were set by the Sedin twins.

“We took some risks,” Gillis said. “We’re very fortunate they kept up their end of the bargain and we were able to support them.”

The general manager, named NHL executive of the year by The Sporting News, is taking the Canucks to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 17 years.

“It’s an enormous accomplishment for our team and organization and people are extremely proud,” Gillis said. “I think the success on the ice is reflective of a much bigger picture. I think our fans are proud of the team as well, and elated. We’ve done our celebrating last night and now we’re going to get ready for the next round.

“I feel great that we’re in the position we’re in but we still have a couple of weeks here to complete our last goal. We have a unique opportunity and work to do.”

Gillis spent parts of six seasons in the NHL as a player and was on some excellent Boston Bruin teams in the early 1980s. Those teams never made it to a Stanley Cup final.

Most of his hockey career was spent as an agent, a job he relinquished three years ago to become the Canucks’ general manager. It was an unorthodox, wild card hire by Aquilini.

Gillis assembled a terrific management team and was strong enough to retain the best players assembled by previous GMs Dave Nonis and Brian Burke. He improved the team’s depth and embarked on ambitious programs to develop players and build an atmosphere that would make the Canucks the most desirable organization in the league for which to play.

The great food is a tiny part of it.

“I’ve certainly learned a lot of lessons about focusing on the next day instead of the previous day … and not obsessing about what’s happened,” Gillis said. “You need absolute total commitment (from players). You need breaks. You need your goaltender to stop the puck at key points in a series to let you move on. You need all kinds of stuff to happen, and rarely does it happen as you feel it should.

“But this year, look how Roberto has played at key points in the series. You look at how our team has picked up one another. You look at how our defence has played and who has come in and fit in. It all has to come together.”